


absolution

by unholyconfessions (orphan_account)



Series: salt in the wounds [6]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canon Rewrite, Emotional Hurt, Episode Related, M/M, Secret Relationship, Self-Doubt, Set During 5.11 - The Last Chimera
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-13 07:09:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5699518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/unholyconfessions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He takes another step forward and stops there, where he’s still safe, still in control of himself, but Theo shortens the distance, steps into Stiles’ bubble and crushes it. </p><p>[sequel to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/4925584">dissenter</a>.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	absolution

**Author's Note:**

> Yay, season 5B is back and so am I. *throws confetti*
> 
> Needless to say I was super excited about this episode. Everything just felt so right while watching it, I couldn't _wait_ to write this.
> 
> Please enjoy the read. Feedback is always welcome! :-)

The moments between finding his dad and taking him to the hospital are a blur to Stiles: heart loud in his ears, adrenaline polluting his veins, and Theo’s taste still on him. 

He’s useless like this, sitting at the hospital waiting room while Theo’s out doing whatever it is he does—whatever will hurt Stiles more, hurt Scott’s pack, if there even is a pack anymore. Stiles hates that this is what he’s reduced to when it comes to Theo: a useless, angry, defenseless mess; the little token human that Theo loves to play with.

He could live with it if Theo didn’t sit in the back of his mind all the time, a quiet whisper in his ear that he can’t shake off, even as the reality of losing everything he has, losing his dad, losing Scott, occupies his mind. 

Theo has ripped a part of him to keep like a souvenir, like a hunting trophy, that Stiles knows he will never get back, but that fact doesn’t bother him as much as the knowledge that he _let_ it happen, that he trusted Theo enough to let it happen.

That he still does, even though something’s still not right about this. Theo could’ve killed his dad, could’ve left him to die alone and he’d still have the upper hand, but no. He led Stiles to him; _why?_

The question runs in circles in Stiles’ head until Melissa’s hand on his shoulder wakes him up, his dad’s voice echoing in his head, carrying memories that he thought he’d forgotten years ago.

She tells him to wait, just a while longer, but that it doesn’t matter because his dad will be okay. “It’ll be okay,” she reassures him, until two hours later, when she comes to find him again, and Stiles can’t stare her or Dr. Geyer in the eye as anger boils in his stomach. 

“Stiles—”

“I need to know what’s going on with him, okay?” Stiles takes a breath, tries to keep his nails from digging crescents in his palm. “Dr. Geyer, somebody needs to tell me what’s happening. Somebody needs to tell me what is happening to him!”

Melissa looks apologetic, but Stiles can’t hear what she says to him when he catches sight of Scott on the other side of the door. His feet move before he does, a beeline straight in Scott’s direction until he has his hands around Scott’s collar.

They fall in disarray to the hospital floor, Stiles’ grip still firm on Scott even as Scott cries out in pain.

“Where were you? You trusted him. You believed him, right, huh? So, where were you?” Stiles whisper-shouts, doesn’t know if he’s talking to Scott or himself. Scott still isn’t fighting him, even as he tightens his fists and shoves harder at Scott. His blood simmers. He screams, loud enough that his ears start ringing, “Where the hell were you?” 

“Stop it!” Melissa says as she pulls him away from Scott. 

Stiles throws his hands up as Scott scrambles to his feet, feels the blood cooling down in his veins. “Okay. Alright, alright.”

Scott looks at him—scared, disappointed, worried—and speaks slowly, as if he’s worried Stiles will go at him again, “Your dad’s not the only one who got hurt.”

Stiles tries not to scoff at him. “Oh, you’ll heal.”

“I’m not talking about me.”

Realization hits him harder than a kick in the guts. Lydia. Scott’s talking about Lydia. Stiles hadn’t stopped to think about her in this mess, hadn’t stopped to think about how Theo could hurt her—the only person he cared about more than his dad, Scott, or Malia.

“Let me go,” he says, quietly, and Dr. Geyer releases him with deliberate caution. “I’m fine, alright? I’m fine. I just need to see her. I need to see Lydia.”

*

It’s a little ridiculous, like the start of a bad joke. A human, a werewolf, a nurse, and a deputy walk into a morgue…

“Theo said he didn’t want my dad to die.”

Parrish’s words don’t affect Stiles as much as they should, “And you _believe_ him?”

Maybe that’s a good thing. Emotions have always held him back.

He shakes his head as he glances at Parrish, mutters, “He told me where to find him, so maybe he also knows how to save him.”

Melissa sounds as incredulous as Parrish looks when she says, “And what do you want to do? Talk to him?”

The fact that talking to Theo is an entirely plausible solution in his situation is not only ridiculous but hilarious to him. If only they knew just how much he can get Theo to talk.

“If it saves my dad, then yeah,” he says out loud, swallowing an empty laugh.

“I’ll come with you. He doesn’t know that I’m alive,” Scott offers. “Maybe that gives us an advantage.”

“He’ll know you’re there. I just need to talk to him, not fight him.” 

Stiles starts walking away in the hopes Scott will let him do this alone. It’s the only way he knows how. If he pushes Theo just _right_ , just enough, Theo’ll tell him.

But Melissa comes to Scott’s rescue, as always, and Stiles bites his tongue, “Stiles, you can’t go alone.”

Stiles comes to a stop, but doesn’t miss the little quip that special corner of his brain throws at him, _you_ want _to go alone._

“Does anyone even know how to find him?” asks Parrish.

Stiles turns back around, ignores that little boost to his ego when he says, “He’ll come to me.”

They’ll have questions, but he’ll deal with them later. 

Right now, he needs to do this.

*

It takes Theo a matter of minutes to show up after Stiles texts him. 

Stiles doesn’t need to have super-senses to notice that Theo’s showered and changed. Stiles wants to laugh thinking about how much he still reeks of Theo; he never even bothered to change, but of course Theo would, even if just to spite him.

Theo stops outside the door and Stiles meets his gaze, notices the exact moment Theo realizes Scott is in the house. Theo’s mouth curves up in that smirk that makes Stiles’ stomach flutter, and Stiles watches his feet, silently urges him to come inside.

Theo blinks then, slow and oh-so-sure of himself. Stiles internally screams, tries not to move just in case his body betrays him.

“I guess we’re all telling the truth now,” Theo says, a taunt hidden behind a smile.

Stiles can’t stop staring at him, can’t forget how warm Theo felt against him, how good it made him feel to have that control over Theo, even if just for a minute.

Theo’s eyes snap in Scott’s direction, hidden upstairs, and Stiles can almost hear the muscles moving under Theo’s skin, ready to fight if he needs to. Stiles moves before Theo can, throwing Theo Scott’s bloodied and tattered shirt, eyes telling Theo to just _go with it, please._

“You killed my best friend,” he accuses, breathless even if there’s enough air in his lungs to make them explode.

Theo looks at the shirt, rolls the fabric between his fingers, and back at Stiles. “Let’s be honest, Stiles,” he says, swallows as if he’s thinking of his exact next words, “was he still really your best friend?”

Stiles doesn’t honor that with an answer. Instead, he gets straight to the point. He’s not here to salvage his relationship with Scott, he’s here to save his dad. 

Nothing else matters.

“Are you gonna let my father die?”

“If I wanted him to die, I wouldn’t have told you where you can find him,” Theo fires back without hesitation, and _fuck_ , Stiles believes him.

Theo throws Scott’s shirt to side as if it meant nothing to him—maybe it does, maybe that’s what Stiles means to him too—and Stiles watches, mind wondering if he can get away with the slightest touch to Theo’s arm without Scott noticing.

“Then why are they saying his body is shutting down?” Stiles asks, getting up to his feet on unsteady legs. “That some toxin’s poisoning him and they don’t know how to stop it?”

He takes another step forward and stops there, where he’s still safe, still in control of himself, but Theo shortens the distance, steps into Stiles’ bubble and crushes it. Stiles grabs a handful of Theo’s shirt and kisses him, just to taste him again, and hopes to god that Scott doesn’t catch the hitch in his breath.

Theo smiles as Stiles pulls back, argues, “I’m not the bad guy, Stiles. I’m just a realist.” Stiles raises his eyebrows at the absurdity, wipes at his mouth with the back of a hand. “I’m a survivor. If you knew the things that I know—”

“Yeah, but what do you know?” 

“I know what’s coming. I know what the Dread Doctors created, and I know what Parrish is.” Theo takes a step back. “Lydia figured it out. I saw it in her memories.”

“Right after you drove her out of her mind.”

Theo gives a slight shake of his head, says, “Collateral damage,” in a way that makes Stiles want to rip his tongue off. “But if she’s right about Parrish, then things around here are gonna get a lot worse.”

“I don’t care,” Stiles whispers, presses his lips together as his stomach flips.

“You should, because if your dad does survive, he’s not gonna be sheriff of anything much longer.”

Stiles asks again, “What’s happening to him?” even though Theo probably doesn’t know the answer. He needs Theo to hell him something, anything, but Theo turns on his heel and Stiles reaches for him. “Hey, tell me!”

The only thing Theo tells him is an almost inaudible, “I’m sorry, Stiles,” before he pushes Stiles away and back against the stairs.

*

Back at the hospital, as his dad wakes up, all Stiles can think about is that Theo didn’t do this. Theo didn’t hurt his dad.

Is that where Theo draws the line? 

“It’s okay, Stiles,” his dad says, hand on Stiles’ shoulder. “You still got me.”

Stiles nods, blinks through unshed tears and takes his dad’s hand in his, watches him fall back asleep in silence.

He leans back against the chair, listens to his bones crack beneath his muscles, and lets go of his dad to reach for his phone, thumb hovering over Theo’s name.

Maybe the jump Scott heard in Theo’s heart back at the house wasn’t surprise. Maybe Theo’s moral compass isn’t as screwed up as Stiles thought.

But if it is, then what? 

Stiles looks back and forth between his dad and Theo’s name, shakes the thought away before he deludes himself into believing something he shouldn’t, and texts Theo a simple message.

_thank you._


End file.
